The ''Niels Juel'' class was a three-ship class of

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

s formerly in service with the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Isla ...

. They were built in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...

Shipyard and were launched in the period 1978–1980. In 1998–2000 the three vessels had a mid-life update, as well as a large update on the electrical systems. The three ships were named (NATO abbreviation ''NIJU''), (NATO abbreviation ''OLFI'') and (NATO abbreviation ''PETO''). All three vessels were named after famous Danish

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

s, with the debatable exception of

Peter Tordenskjold Peter Jansen Wessel Tordenskiold (28 October 1690 – 12 November 1720), commonly referred to as Tordenskjold (), was a Norwegian nobleman and flag officer who spent his career in the service of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. He rose to the rank ...

, a Norwegian-born officer who served during the

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...

of Norway and Denmark from 1415 to 1814. These ships were replaced by the s. All three ships were retired in 2009 and were scrapped in 2013 at Munkebo, Denmark.

Design

During the mid-life refit, the corvettes were modified to be able to use the

StanFlex StanFlex (also known as STANFLEX or Standard Flex) is a modular mission payload system used by the Royal Danish Navy. Originally conceived during the 1980s as a way of replacing several classes of minor war vessel with a single class of multi-role ...

modular mission payload system; two module slots were installed aft of the superstructure.

Duties

The corvettes played an active role in solving a wide spectrum of duties, including escort and protection of other vessels. They were built to the requirements of the

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era, notably the need for guarding and convoy duty in the strategically important Danish Belts. Like many assets built during this period, adapting it to changing needs in the post–Cold War period was challenging, but the ''Niels Juel'' class benefited from being built from the outset as austere, economical vessels with a large number of possible roles to play. Also among the various tasks for the corvettes were

coast guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

duties in

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

national waters, as well as

intelligence gathering This is a list of intelligence gathering disciplines. HUMINT Human intelligence (HUMINT) are gathered from a person in the location in question. Sources can include the following: * Advisors or foreign internal defense (FID) personnel wor ...

. It was normal routine for the Danish corvettes to participate in international operations. On several occasions, the vessels took part in operations for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, UN,

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

and coalition forces.

List of ships

References

Corvette classes {{navy-stub